Do We Really Need an App for That?

I'm a social media junkie who loves reading about and testing new technology. I'm also the mother of an almost 2-year-old. When I first saw the Huggies TweetPee, I immediately thought, "This has to be a joke." Sadly, I was wrong.

TweetPee is a smartphone app with a clip-on, bird-shaped humidity sensor and wireless antenna. (You can guess where the bird goes.) When your baby wets a diaper, a message is sent to Mommy's (or Daddy's) phone.

As the executive editor of Design News, I'm intrigued, and I kind of want to try it out. As a mother, I am appalled. I wouldn't entertain the thought of putting it on my child. It just seems creepy to me. Who knows? Years from now, parents who tested it may find that it caused some sort of damage. Is it worth even the smallest risk?

Kimberly-Clark said in a press release on TweetPee that the humidity sensor is "intended merely as a concept device to help showcase... parents' experience with the app." It won't make the sensor available for purchase, "nor are we suggesting parents are unable or too busy to notice when their babies' diapers need changing."

Money talks. However, no matter the outcome, does anyone really need an app for that?

Readers, what do you think? Is this another cool invention, or does it go too far? Tell us in the comment section below.

I agree, Jennifer, this seems a little over the top. I don't have children, and I'm sure it can be helpful in some cases, but isn't knowing that your child's cry means he or she needs a diaper change part of learning to communicate with your baby? I think that kind of communication is natural and far more personal than finding out from an app. In my opinion, they should leave well enough alone when it comes to something like this. Technology already has impersonalized a lot of things we used to use normal human communication for.

Yes Elizibeth, parents quickly learn (in my recollection it was through negative reinforcement) what their child is trying to communicate. Sleepy baby, hungry baby, bored baby, lonely baby, cranky baby; there's a song for each mood. This is what teaches children how to manipulate, I mean, communicate with their parents.

This is great, Jenn. You can get a call when your baby needs changing even when you're at work. When my kids were young, I loved those diapers that coagulated moisture into a solid within the diaper so the baby wouldn't feel uncomfortable because from the acidic moisture. Under those conditions, who needs the moisture dector?

I always wanted to make a TV commercial with a toddler walking beside a pool, the kid falls in the pool and everyone rushes to his aid, only to see the kid happily sitting at the bottom of dry pool with a puddle here or there and a diaper that's swollen to the size of a beach ball. "Your child will always stay dry in new super absorbent Nappies"

I'd give this idea a definite maybe. At one time, we had four young children with two in diapers at the same time. Admittedly, there were times when my communication link to my children was overloaded. I could have used a little help. At the same time, though, I'm not sure I would have been completely open to Tweets during the chaos. It might have pushed me over the brink.

A better use might be nursing homes or senior care facilities. The alarm sent to the nurses station could be very helpful. Some residents are non-verbal, some suffer from various mental difficulties that may prevent them from knowing that they have "moistened their under garments". I think most parents do learn the different cries but babies aren't the only ones wearing diapers anymore.

To parahrase an oft-referenced quote, "Technology is taking us where no man dared venture before!" Not only will future generations of humans be born WITHOUT vocal chords to actually speak to one another (tweeting & nonverbal communication wll supplant that archaic mode), but they will be born without brains, since they'll be an "app" for that too.

The ONLY exception to this prophecy will be for politicians. A genetic marker will identify those individuals who have this dominant gene, and they will continue to have vocal chords, since that's ALL they know how to do.... talk, without reason!

Jennifer i cant really say whether it is useful or not because in some senarios it can be usefull but not in daily routine . There should be a bonding between children and their parents and using such diapers will not help to creat a strong and healthy relationship between them it will be too robotic. What i am feeling is no doubt technology is a very good thing and it is helping us as well but on the contrary with these developments it is eliminating human bonding and feelings .

You can use such diapers in extreme emergencies or in nursingl Day care schools however making it routine will not be good for your child .

When I was remodeling my house, i wanted stainless steel hoses to lessen the chance of a burst hose and the subsequent flood damage. As an aside, my contractor mentioned that there are moisture detectors that can send a signal to one's phone or alarm system to let she/he know that something is flooding. He said that he had installed the detectors for other customers, usually around the dishwashers, washing machines and refrigerators.

As someone who dodged a flood from a burst rubber hose feeding a filter to the ice tray only because I came home from work early that day, this technology as a moisture warning system makes great sense.

That someone would think to extend it to baby diapers is a pretty straight line, to be honest. Whether it is appropriate or not, that seems to be in the eye of the beholder.

I agree that there is already a great moisture alarm system (the baby itself) and that there are positive developmental aspects to this system, but I find that a lot of the comments in this forum against the device are very judgmental and a little self-righteous, strongly ridiculing the imaginary parents who might use such a device.

If one dials down the indignation, one could arrive at the related use and the very real problem that Bob W. pointed out - nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The need there is very real and is not a product of a lack of attention, selfishness on the part of the caregiver or part of the self-development of the party with the wet garment.

So a big Bravo to Bob for not getting caught up in the negative thread of the commentary. I lived through the nursing home nightmare with my father and using the moisture detector in this application didn't occur to me because I was too busy reeling from the negative comments (and laughing at Tekochip's commercial idea).

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